MHA issues order to exempt certain activities regarding Minor Forest Produce, Plantations, NBFCs, Cooperative Credit Societies and Construction in Rural Areas from Lockdown Restrictions to fight COVID-19
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued an order to exempt certain activities under the consolidated revised guidelines to all Ministries/Departments (
https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/MHA%20order%20dt%2015.04.2020%2C%20with%20Revised%20Consolidated%20Guidelines_compressed%20%283%29.pdf), regarding the Nationwide lockdown to fight COVID-19.
The order exempts from lockdown restrictions certain activities as below:
- Collection, harvesting and processing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP)/ Non-timber Forest Produce (NTFP) by Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers in forest areas.
- Bamboo, coconut, arecanut, cocoa, spices plantations and their harvesting, processing, packaging, sale and marketing.
- Non-banking financial institutions (NBFCs) including Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) and Micro Finance Companies (NBFC--MFIs), with bare minimum staff.
- Cooperative Credit Societies.
- Construction activities in rural areas to include water supply and sanitation , laying/erection of power transmission lines and laying of telecom optical fiber and cable along with related activities.